Central Mass. set for own football showcase

Thursday

Jun 26, 2014 at 10:36 PMJun 27, 2014 at 12:08 AM

By Carl Setterlund CORRESPONDENT

WORCESTER — When the Central-Western Mass. Shrine Chowder Bowl was discontinued after 13 years, the Joseph R. Mewhiney Central Mass. Chapter of the National Football Foundation decided to create its own senior all-star game.

There was just one problem — they planned to take a gap year to organize the game, which would have left this year's seniors without a local showcase event.

When St. Peter-Marian coach Tom Henrickson heard that, he took the word as a call to action. After all, a senior-laden Guardians roster produced one of the program's best seasons in recent years but didn't get to play past Thanksgiving.

"What happened, exactly (with the Chowder Bowl), who knows? I wasn't involved in that," Henrickson said. "When they said they were going to put this off and try to start it next year, I said, 'Listen, I've got 19 seniors, and I owe it to them.' "

There were many moving parts, but Henrickson helped organize the venue, the sponsorship, even new uniforms, and the rest of CMass came out to support it.

The result is the first all-Central Mass. senior game, with Henrickson's athletic spread offense for the North set to take on the South's power group assembled by recently retired Shrewsbury High coach Terry Walles. The game takes place at 7 p.m. tonight at Worcester State. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults.

"I was fortunate enough to coach the (Chowder Bowl) five years ago and had a great experience," said Walles, who also looked at it as a special opportunity to coach with his brother, Tim Walles, an assistant at Doherty High.

Henrickson said Maynard coach Harold Ogilvie, a teacher at Southbridge High where Walles is an assistant principal, helped sell Walles on the idea. Ogilvie and Southbridge coach Frank Koumanelis also are assisting Walles.

Adding to the game's magnitude is Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year Neil O'Connor, who led Leominster to the Central Mass. Division 2 final. O'Connor, who is headed for the University of New Hampshire, is one of only two Division 1-bound players who decided to play. He is joined by St. John's T.J. Kelley, who will walk on at UMass.

"It just seemed like it would be a good time," O'Connor said. "I got the OK from UNH, so I decided to play and it should be a fun game."

After quarterbacking the Blue Devils last fall, the pride of North Leominster will switch back to his former position of wide receiver, giving way to signal callers Zak Walker of Ayer-Shirley and Dylan Kierman of Quabbin Regional.

Henrickson, who called O'Connor an ego-less player at practice, said not to rule out a pass or two from O'Connor. The two-time Super Teamer and Hometeam Defensive Player of the Year will also reprise his role as a defensive back.

"It's definitely a really cool way to end your high school career, playing with a bunch of guys you've always played but never really knew," O'Connor said.

Joining O'Connor on the high-flying North squad will be top-end receivers such as Quabbin's Nick Thyden and SPM's Tyis Boykin and Danny Henrickson.

"It's really impressive," Danny Henrickson said. "I thought my team was good, but then seeing all the other kids around the area, what they can do, it's like, you tell us to run a pla,y and two seconds later, everyone can executive as simple as that. It's cool to be on a team this talented and it makes everyone else work harder."

Boykin said he's looking forward to facing off against his cousin, rugged and explosive Bartlett High senior Alexander Givins-Perry, who grew up in Worcester. Givins-Perry finished as the area's top senior rusher, collecting 1,785 yards.

He'll have the benefit of running behind large linemen with talent, including Burncoat's Zehmier Brown, Auburn's Will Greelish, Northbridge's Tom Tabur and Connor Gatto, and Shepherd Hill's Josh Ponce de Leon.

"They're as good as advertised," Walles said.

"Playing against all my friends from Worcester, it should be interesting," Givins-Perry said. "It's definitely going to be a little bit easier finding the holes."

Coach Henrickson said 54 local high schools will be represented in the North-South game. Division 4 state champion Doherty High will be represented by Mitch Celaj, Tyler Kmon and Peter Franco.

Along with an expected strong turnout of fans, Henrickson also thinks several college scouts will be in attendance, a boon for the several players headed for a prep season, including Brown and Leominster's Matt Banchs.

Whereas the Chowder Bowl sent its proceeds to the Shriners Hospital system, Henrickson said this year's funds will go to the Joe Mewhiney Scholarship Fund.

Contact Carl Setterlund at sports@telegram.com.Follow him on Twitter @tgsports.

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